An interesting November 7, 2011 article by Matt Stoller [former Senior Policy Advisor to Rep. Alan Grayson and a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. You can reach him at Stoller@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @matthewstoller] called "50 State Settlement Chatter – $65 Million of Fundraising and the Kamala Harris Network" [found at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/matt-stoller-50-state-settlement-chatter-%e2%80%93-65-million-of-fundraising-and-the-kamala-harris-network.html], if true explains much about the lackluster approach to protecting consumers victimized by mortgage fraud in California.
California Attorney General Harris has positioned herself to either be the champion of consumers or the banking lobby. Commentators have either seen her as a progressive rising star or as another democratic hack.
Understanding how Harris thinks about politics matters as it kinda clues one into what she is likely to do next (or not do).
In Matt Stoller's article he comments:
.
"Harris’s decision-making seems to be driven by personal connections and fundraising networks. This is not at all unusual, but it does contrast a bit with other types of public servants, who often see their job as serving the law itself. So what do her personal connections and fundraising networks look like?
.
Well, largely she shares them with President Obama, who endorsed her late in 2010 for the AG office. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, was key fundraiser for Obama in California, having helped raise $65 million for Obama in the state, and he is considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He now works at the DOJ and has expanded the Civil Rights department to take on some elements of mortgage fraud. The DOJ has an internal directive to make mortgage fraud a top priority, but what mortgage fraud means to the DOJ are mortgage modification scams and penny ante borrowers ripping off fly-by-night lenders. West, while not the direct actor in the DOJ’s settlement talks, is in all likelihood involved in pressure on state AGs to sign on to a settlement. And it’s simply inconceivable he hasn’t dealt with his sister-in-law and political ally on the matter. Harris and West are part of a coherent political network, and much of the strength of that network has to do with reinforcing the traditional bank-friendly policies of the Democratic elite and then using that to create political support.
.
The first indication that as California AG Harris was more sympathetic to the Obama side of the ledger on banking is that one of her first decisions as AG was to let off Angelo Mozilo without admitting to wrong-doing or personally paying a fine (the small money that went to restitution came from Bank of America shareholders). I suspect the issue is actually more personal to her than legal, not because she particularly cares about finance or foreclosures, but because her friends and allies are very concerned about ensuring that the banks get a release. In their view, this will cause the housing market to clear, the economy to recover, and then help reelection chances".
.
While General Harris' supporters point out that she backed out of an immediate settlement a few weeks ago with the banks that screwed millions of Californians, she refused to join the joint investigation by Eric Schneiderman and Beau Biden on the foreclosure fraud crisis. The question has to be WHY?
.
Is she afraid of sharing visibility on the subject? Is she worried she will look inadequate in leading her budget ravaged staff that historically is more pro-institution than pro-consumer? Or is she just on the sidelines, trying to figure out what to do? Or is she more closely aligned to the very banking execs she should be joining in the investigation of [For example, she let the mortgage mauraders at Countrywide and its CEO Angelo Mozilo off the hook in February of 2011 when he paid a mere $6.5 million to get out of a predatory lending lawsuit filed by the state of California].
.
What is clear is that Kamala Harris is no progressive lie New York's AJ Eric Schneiderman.
.
The Kamala Harris history?
.
Harris got her start in big time San Francisco politics she was best known as the ex-girlfriend of former long-time Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown, who remains a powerful figure in California politics. Harris dumped Brown shortly after he became mayor but he provided key help to her campaign for District Attorney in 2003. It was a tough race against a two-term incumbent. In that race she agreed to participate in a system that mandated campaign finance limits. In the last days of the race when it was clear she had a shot at winning, she ignored the mandated spending limits she had previously agreed to assuming that the fines would be well worth the expense of spending extra money in the home stretch if she won. And she did win. Her career as San Francisco’s District Attorney was marred by allegations of massive mismanagement of the city’s crime lab which was under her jurisdiction. As a result, allegedly hundreds of criminal cases had to be thrown out of court.
.
Maybe General Harris could learn from a very tough AG in hard hit Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto.
.
Window dressing politics have to stop. Harris needs to decide if she wants to be a warrior for victims or an apologist for the banking smucks that are still raking us over the coals.
No comments:
Post a Comment